Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chen Qiyu's idea of ​​laying tracks in the city was ultimately not realized.

Because Zhu Youjian still asked him to lay tracks in the west of Beijing first to verify the railway technology.

Otherwise, if a double-decker train had problems in the city, it would be a big deal, and it would be possible that the newly born railway would encounter great resistance in its infancy.

Chen Qiyu was somewhat disappointed with this, because if the railway was laid outside the city, it would be difficult to use the rails.

At a time when steel prices are still high, railroad tracks laid on the ground could be stolen.

Therefore, the final plan for the Jingxi Railway was to lay wooden tracks first, and only replace them with iron tracks in sections that were prone to damage. People would also be arranged to be on duty in those sections to guard the tracks day and night.

The main function of the track is to transport coal, and carrying passengers is just a byproduct.

After taking over the coal industry in Beijing and establishing honeycomb coal and coal stoves as industry standards, the amount of coal used in Beijing increased significantly, and transportation demand also increased.

Therefore, this railway was built by a company led by the Royal Energy Group, which joined forces with nobles who owned coal mines in Xishan to provide funding, and the Taibusi Temple, which provided the manpower and technology, each holding half of the shares.

The track gauge also adopts the 800 mm used for mining tracks, with space reserved for expansion to 1600 mm.

After receiving this task, the Imperial Household Department quickly began to explore the route. According to the emperor's request, the route should be as straight as possible and pass through the palaces of various princes and the university town.

The two places, like the Xishan Coal Mine, were located west of the capital, so they were just on the way. The students in the university town saw something new, and a branch line to the university town was quickly started.

This branch line also serves the purpose of verifying its passenger carrying capacity. Taipusi laid the prepared tracks on a section of road and transported horse-drawn carriages there to pick up and drop off students on the road for free.

Fang Yizhi and other college students who are quick to accept new things called their friends to come and see the novelty.

Mao Pijiang, who just finished the joint entrance examination, is also on the list.

Relying on his reputation as a talented man in the south of the Yangtze River and the articles he published in newspapers, he quickly became famous in the capital and became friends with these students.

Although he didn't have a student ID, Mao Pijiang still got on the carriage with other college students using his admission ticket.

Due to track limitations, this carriage is naturally not as wide as the double-decker train displayed by Chen Qiyu, and it is only single-decker.

Because it was even difficult to place four seats side by side and an aisle, one type of carriage chose the seat layout of later subways, with a row of seats placed vertically on the left and right.

There is also a type of carriage that has a sightseeing car layout, with four seats placed horizontally without an aisle in the middle, and people can get off from both sides.

Fang Yizhi, Mao Pijiang and others felt quite comfortable riding on this sightseeing bus.

It is a unique experience to enjoy the scenery while sitting on this kind of vehicle.

What made them even more delighted was that the vehicle ran extremely smoothly with very little bumps.

This made them, who were fed up with the bumpy ride of the carriage, extremely curious. Fang Yizhi couldn't help but ask the driver:
"Where is this car made?"

"Can we do without the tracks?"

The driver was a clerk of the Imperial Household Department and now a railway driver. While driving the carriage, he replied to Fang Yizhi:
"This is the new horse-drawn carriage built by Taipu Temple. It must use the track."

“Now it’s a test run to see if there are any problems.”

Fang Yizhi was quite disappointed when he heard this. Mao Pijiang then asked:

"Are there no multi-wheeled carriages without tracks?"

“As smooth as this car.”

The driver made a “whoosh” sound, stopped the horse, and asked the passengers to get off. Then he replied to Mao Pijiang:

"There are also carriages that don't use tracks. They were developed by the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Household Department. There are two-wheeled carriages and four-wheeled carriages."

"But it's impossible to make a carriage as stable as this one. Even on the road, it's not as stable as a rail carriage, and it needs more horses."

"It is said that some craftsmen are researching suspension devices that can make carriages vibrate less. But in the future, rail carriages will also be more stable if they use suspension."

This aroused the interest of some students, because the highway from the university town to the capital had already been built.

The house they lived in also had a stable where they could park their carriages.

If there is a carriage with reduced vibration as the driver said, many wealthy students will try to buy it so that they can go to the capital during holidays.

Starting this year, schools will try out the solar calendar, which allows students to have a five-day holiday, twice as many as the previous lunar and full-month holidays. In addition, when the solar terms come, students will have two or three consecutive days off, which means more holidays.

Because of this, the demand for student travel increased a lot, which is why Zhu Youjian asked the Taibusi to build the Jingxi Railway first.

He wanted to use these relatively wealthy students to boost the capital's economy, and at the same time use them to experiment with new holidays to facilitate the implementation of the solar calendar in the future.

This calendar was improved a lot after Xu Guangqi, Niu Jinxing and others joined in. After being used in parallel with the Datong calendar for one or two years, no problems arose.

After the silver dollar was issued this year, the court began to pay monthly salaries to middle and low-level officials. However, according to the traditional calendar, there are seven leap months in 19 years, which makes it inconvenient to pay salaries monthly.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian has decided that as long as there is no problem with the solar calendar, it will replace the original Datong calendar nationwide after being piloted among the student group.

Mao Pijiang was a beneficiary of this policy. He welcomed the new holiday arrangements and his resistance to his father's arrangement for him to attend the University Hall was reduced a lot.

He personally liked to go to the capital, especially to the red-light district with a few friends. In addition, he had the task assigned by his father to monitor the gold price, so he could openly ask for a carriage to go to the metal exchange to check the price.

What's even better is that there is a stable in his yard, and the servants who accompany him also raise horses to drive carriages. As long as the carriage of the Imperial Household Department is comfortable enough, he is willing to buy one for use.

Therefore, after experiencing the tram, he and other interested students such as Fang Yizhi went to see how the shock-absorbing carriage of Taipu Temple was made and whether it was better than the traditional carriage.

The vehicle workshop jointly run by the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Household Supervision Department is located in Tongzhou District, not far from the canal dock. It is very convenient to transport materials needed for vehicles, and there is also a great demand for vehicle transportation after the goods are unloaded from the dock.

The carriages produced by the workshop are in great demand.

The most popular item sold in this workshop today is the four-wheeled cart, which is a commonly used vehicle in the Central Plains and can carry up to 50 stones.

After the construction of the highway, this type of horse-drawn carriage was quickly promoted and became one of the most common vehicles on the road.

However, people do not like riding in four-wheeled vehicles, because if there is a bump on the road, a two-wheeled vehicle only needs to bump once, while a four-wheeled vehicle needs to bump twice, which is really too painful.

After experiencing the four-wheeled carriages in the palace, Zhu Youjian gave the Vehicle Research Institute a task to install suspension on the four-wheeled carriages to make them more comfortable to ride.

Under the guidance of the spring suspension, leaf spring suspension, torsion bar suspension and other suspensions he proposed, craftsmen from the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Household Department made various vehicles and experimented with various shapes.

When Fang Yizhi, Mao Pijiang and others arrived at the vehicle workshop, they saw a tricycle being tested. It was newly built by Chen Qiuyu under the order of the craftsmen according to the emperor's instructions.

This was because after Zhu Youjian heard that the biggest difficulty of the four-wheeled carriage was the steering mechanism, he drew a sketch of a tricycle and asked them to build the tricycle first.

Compared with a four-wheeled vehicle, the steering mechanism of a tricycle is much simpler. In particular, the one drawn by Zhu Youjian is a tricycle that is almost the same as the front half of a bicycle.

The driver only needs to hold the handlebars with his hands to turn the cart easily. There are also bells and brake mechanisms on the handlebars, which can better remind others and control the vehicle. The first thing Fang Yizhi and others heard was the sound of "ding-ling-ling", which made them curiously stare at the bell that the driver rang, wondering why it could make such a loud sound.

Then they saw the driver holding the reins in his left hand and waving the whip with his right hand, sometimes using the handlebars to steer the carriage and sometimes ringing the bell.

Perhaps because they were not familiar with the carriage, the driver seemed to be in a panic. Sometimes he even kicked the wheels with his feet, causing the carriage to shake.

After driving for a while, the driver got off the rickshaw and said to the craftsmen who had gathered around him:

"The bell is nice, but the handlebars are not."

"There are two handles on the left and right, which always makes people want to grab it with both hands."

"Besides, the bell is on the right side, and the right hand is used to swing the whip, so it is not convenient to ring the bell."

"I'd rather leave a handle so you don't hit the handlebars when you whip."

After talking about a series of shortcomings of this handlebar, the driver suggested keeping only one grip and removing the other.

The craftsmen of Taipu Temple did as he said and sawed off half of the wooden handle and installed the bell on the left side.

But this is still not easy to use, because the left hand also needs to pull the reins, and it is impossible to keep it on the handlebar all the time. What should I do when I need to use my right hand to steer?
Finally, they changed the handlebars from horizontal to vertical, so that they can be controlled by either hand. When both hands are not free, they can even use their legs to hold the handlebars and turn them.

A hook was added in the front for placing the reins, and a sleeve was added on the right side to hold the whip.

This finally solved the problem of steering by holding the handle, and the effect was better after the driver got used to it.

At this point, the tricycle test was basically successful.

After Fang Yizhi and others explained their purpose, they were also invited to ride in the carriage to experience it.

After sitting on this car, they finally understood why this car had to have an extra wheel in the front.

It turns out that there are two springs at the back of the car, which lift up the back seat. They reduce the vibration of the car a lot, making the ride more comfortable.

After reducing vibration, the next step is to reduce shaking to make the riding experience more comfortable.

Therefore, the two-wheeled carriages that were prone to shaking up and down were abandoned and transformed into three-wheeled or four-wheeled carriages. One or two wheels were added to the front to keep the vehicle stable.

After Fang Yizhi got on the carriage and experienced it, he said with satisfaction:

"This carriage is very nice. When will you sell it out?"

The craftsmen in the vehicle workshop shook their heads and said that they could not decide on this matter.

It must pass the palace’s verification before it can be sold to the outside world.

They built a series of two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, but the emperors in the palace were not satisfied after trying them.

That’s why this tricycle was built, and it must be sent in as soon as it is made.

After learning that it was the emperor's request, Fang Yizhi and others could only leave here with regret. They decided to be the first to buy such a carriage when it came on the market.

Zhu Youjian was in the palace and soon saw the test vehicle. No one dared to delay this kind of thing he had specially arranged.

Moreover, there were more than one car delivered to him. Some had spring suspension, some had leaf spring suspension, and the carriages had different shapes.

Looking at the tricycle that they had modified into a vertical handlebar at the front and back, Zhu Youjian suppressed his smile and asked:
“Is this handlebar easy to use?”

"Is it convenient for Fang to turn?"

Chen Qiyu smiled happily and said:
“It works great!”

"I had never used this type of vehicle before, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly."

He fulfilled his duties as the Minister of the Imperial Household and jumped onto the carriage himself and drove it.

I saw him sometimes holding the reins, sometimes waving the whip, and from time to time freeing up his hands to turn the handlebars, and even when he couldn't free his hands, he used his legs to clamp the handlebars to steer the bike.

Zhu Youjian looked thoughtful, and after Chen Qiyu got off the car, he said:
"It seems that this front wheel is a steering wheel."

"Then it doesn't need to be made particularly large, just a small wheel will do."

"And the handlebars don't need to be so high. You can make it foot-operated and steer by stepping on the pedals on both sides."

I drew a picture of the front wheel of a children's tricycle, but only kept the lower part. And the wheels are not driven by pedaling, but only need to be able to turn.

This way, the driver's hands are completely freed, and he can hold the reins and whip the rickshaw as before. But his legs have an additional task: they need to pedal to turn the rickshaw.

This steering wheel was praised by some craftsmen, but some craftsmen also raised questions, saying:

"The reason I used such big wheels is to prevent the carriage from tilting."

"Otherwise, if the person in the back seat lies back, the carriage may flip over."

I think the front wheel is too light and can easily be lifted up by the person behind.

Regarding this question, Zhu Youjian said:
"Then move the carriage forward and place it between the rear and front wheels."

"This car is good. It should be very stable to sit on it."

Pointing to a four-wheeled carriage with leaf spring suspension, Zhu Youjian asked them to replace the front two wheels with a steering wheel, add a seat for the driver, and start mass production.

After a series of improvements in the use of matchlock gun equipment, Zhu Youjian now believed in a principle, that is, any new thing must be put into production and improved and perfected during use.

He had the same attitude towards the flintlock musket as he did towards the horse-drawn carriage. He believed that this three-wheeled carriage would be quickly improved after being used on a large scale.

Even carriages would benefit and could be manufactured more quickly.

With the encouragement of ennoblement and invention patents for craftsmen, the creativity of Ming Dynasty craftsmen has been stimulated.

There were also scholars like Bo Jue who devoted themselves to this field and began to invent and create.

Fang Yizhi, Mao Pijiang and others went to the vehicle workshop to watch, which also reflected this point.

Otherwise they will be as disdainful as before to understand, let alone see it for themselves.

Zhu Youjian hoped that this three-wheeled carriage could bring about a different change to the Ming Dynasty. He rewarded the meritorious craftsmen and let them enjoy the patent dividends.

Use higher status and more money to stimulate people to join this industry. (End of this chapter)